SNSUN

****s sake, I'm one that thinks Clasie will only get better, and we should be keeping him. Someone shut the damn window! I'll take the team as is, we can pick up the AM in January! My worry with Puel is if anyone leaves they won't be replaced. And that's my first worry of this new regime...

If no senior players leave, and we sign one good attacking midfielder/number 10, I'd say that is a pretty good window. Perhaps a little weaker than last season but not by much. Then it's just up to Puel to get the tactics right.

VVD signed for six years (http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/20160507-virgil-van-dijk-new-contract-announcement-southampton-3099615.aspx) which means he'll be 31 by the time his contract expires, if we wanted to be spiteful and hold him to it, but we all know contracts aren't worth much, and in a year or 2 we'll be looking to cash in on him. That's just how we do business. He could well be our record sale too. I'd love it if we kept him for his career but as we've seen from the last few years that won't happen. As for Fonte, I really hope, and personally I reckon, he'll stay put. Yes he wants the big move and play in the Champions League, but at his age it would be unlikely. Even if he moves, it's unlikely he'll be first choice, and that would jeopardise his Portugal place. He can be a legend with us if he stays, he's already well on his way to that status. Irrespective I'm looking forward to September so all this speculation can end. Maybe it's wishful thinking for a player that's been through so much with us to show a bit of loyalty at the tail end of his career.... One thing I will say, even if this whole 'Fonte leaving' thing hadn't come up, is that we need to think about replacing him anyway because of his age. IF he goes, that just speeds up the process to find a new first choice centre back to partner VVD. Yoshida, Gardos, Jones, Turnbull McCarthy and Stephens are all back up players, I wouldn't (yet) have faith in any of them being our number one centre back, maybe in a couple of years one of the youngsters might surprise us, but really we need to be looking at a new first choice centre back, whatever happens with Fonte.

I would love if that was true, I've been advocating Chadli for a year. A goal scoring midfielder. They exist. And he's entering his prime. But for £20 million, which Spurs want, there is better value out there surely?

Denayer played with VVD at Celtic. Could be some of his influence there.

Everton manager Ronald Koeman says his squad is only "70% fit" heading into their Premier League opener against Tottenham after being given too much time off this summer. (Daily Mail) Excuses starting already...

Rafa Silva, the next Eden Hazard by some accounts, sounds promising! I look forward to seeing him play. Mind you, Jordy Clasie was the next Xavi, and Mark Paul was the next Michael Owen.... While we wait, here are some pictures of cats posing as pin up models. http://www.cutestpaw.com/articles/30-sexy-cats-that-look-like-pin-up-girls/

According to this 3 hours old article, Watford are the only concrete bidders for Boufal so far. http://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/watford-table-opening-offer-for-lille-winger-sofiane-boufal-4141711 How true it is is anyone's guess. I suppose if we were doing things on the quiet they wouldn't know about our bid. I don't know why, but I have a nagging recurring feeling it might be Mata - which would be amazing - one of our biggest transfers of all time - but I highly doubt it. Only 28 which isn't bad but it would cost too much in wages. Still, I can dream. Tello was my initial thought, but it seems he's bound for Fiorentina. I suppose there could be substance to this Gabbiadini link. Also someone mentioned Odegaard - it is true we've been interested in him for some time... Exciting times.

I see Olumola got an assist in the U-23 game with a powerful run. With Gallagher out on loan now and Seager crocked, is there a chance he could be our attacking youngster to break through into the first team? Surely with the Checkatrade he'll get chances. As per the OP article, I guess Alfie Jones has done best out of this lot.

Maybe it's Zaha, and Everton and us have a mutual agreement to rip the wings off the Eagles...

Pat least they'll finally smash that glass ceiling...when one of Bolasie's shots goes through it! For that money, it's a terrible buy. As good as Bolasie can be, he's far too inconsistent and unpredictable. I think this transfer has brought the almighty Everton fans down to earth with a bump.

^ "Outstanding" - really? "Overpriced" perhaps. I don't know whether it's accurate or just forum talk, but I've read Hull City have put a bid in for Maya Yoshida. As I say just forum talk, but they are down to 1 fit centre back and he'll never be first choice here...

He scores a lot of goals. However I read Athletico want to include one of those buy back clauses in case he's a hit at Swansea. I must admit I had Swansea as relegated a week ago but I'm rethinking that after seeing their recent transfer business. This is why predictions should never be made until the end of the transfer window!!!

http://www.wfcforums.com/showthread.php?58542-Southampton-v-Watford-13th-August-2016 Blimey, they sound even less confident that some of us lot on here. FWIW I think our team doesn't have the same level of quality as last year, but we're still a good team. There aren't many better opening fixtures we could have had this season than Watford at home. I can see us winning this fairly comfortably. 2-0. Long MOTM

The line up will be very similar to today's starting line up. I can't see Puel making too many changes, even if we do bring in a new signing this week. The question is whether Fonte and Bertrand will start, after both have had little friendly action. I reckon Fonte might start, though Yoshida has done little wrong, but I feel Bertrand may need more training sessions after his injury. So the back 5 read: Forster, Cedric, Fonte, VVD, Targett. Whatever people say about our team at the moment, I feel our strongest back 5 of Forster, Cedric, Fonte, VVD and Bertrand is one of the strongest in the division. I don't think we'll have a problem conceding goals as long as that back 5 stay fit. There seems less quality in the replacements: McCarthy, Pied, Martina, Yoshida, Gardos, Stephens, Jones, Turnbull, Targett, McQueen etc but they can still do a job as a part time fill in. Ideally we don't want to lose any of our first choice back to injury. As for midfield, the diamond will probably be: Romeu, Hojbjerg, Davis, Tadic. No Wanyama is worrying, that big, strong midfield enforcer type is gone, but in Hojbjerg hopefully we have someone with better passing, control and composure, and hopefully without the hot attitude that got Wanyama the red cards. I'm a fan of Romeu but I'm not sure he's the man to replace Wanyama full time - but we will see. There is also Clasie, JWP and Reed pushing for a game too, so that should keep whoever is in the starting XI on their toes. There is a distinct lack of attacking midfielders in our team bar Tadic, so I hope Puel is looking to bring a couple in. That is our weak spot at the moment. We'll be fine for Watford, but it will show further through the season if we're solely relying on Tadic. Granted we brought in Redmond, but with Puel seeing him more playing up top, we need to strengthen that attacking midfield position, especially if it turns out the diamond doesn't work and we need to change formation. Finally up top it will be: Long and Redmond. Lots of pace there, not a great deal of goal scoring nous. The other option is to play a less mobile but better goal-scoring Austin, or JRod with questions still over his fitness and whether he'll ever be as good as he was. (I really hope he comes back as he was - he'd be like a new signing.) All in all we're a top 10 team, but we need a couple of attacking signings if we want to be where we were last season. At a push we could use a steely midfield enforcer, but I can't see it happening.

Tonny Vilhena also scored, and I saw a few minutes of the game on Sky and they were saying how influential Vilhena is for Feyenoord. Having been linked before, makes me wonder if we're still interested, or whether it was more of a Koeman link. I'd guess the latter.

This. The squad as it is is perfectly good enough to start the season with, but long term we will struggle with the weight of games. However as the ITKs have said the club is aware we need attacking signings and I'm confident we'll see them by the end of the window. If not? Then I'll get worried. I hadnt realised until last night that Newcastle of the league below have spent £45 million in the Championship. That's insane. We've spent, what, about £25 million so far? Interesting times.

Top 6 = :pound it:, 7th -10th without much of a moan, 11th or 12th borderline hissy fit, 13th-17th I'd be slapping the wife about a bit, 18th-20th Murder-Suicide. A cup would be nice.

I got this...

The Skates could do better, even if it were scheduled for a 3am kick-off in Kuala Lumpur without any publicity beforehand.

Bring in Promes and Ziyech to play alongside Tadic and we'd have quite the Twente alumni. And an awesome attack.

Shame but he was quite expensive to buy IMO. Well done Swansea for keeping him, a couple of good strikers and a defender or 2 and they might not be as bad off as I thought. Insane money. Surely no-one is stupid enough to pay that. I'd rather have Benteke for that money as he has Premier League experience. Not exactly the big money Everton fans were hoping to blow, but £7 million for a decent midfielder is small money in this day and age. CHaveDAJFU.

He's signed according to the Beeb. Decent signing for a back up keeper. Has made errors but can only get better with Watson, Kelvin and Forster around.

I know money talks, and there's no smoke without fire, but I'll stick my neck out and say I'd be extremely surprised if he left Saints. He's 32, he already earns great money (which can get better if rumours of a new contract are true) and he's captain and well respected within the club. He's part of a very good and completely settled back 5 (I'm including Cedric in that rather than Martina), and as he's shown, he can still achieve top honours in the national game despite playing for little old Saints. He doesn't seem the sort that would be looking for that big money move. (Mind you we didn't think that about Koeman either before the big money got wafted in his face.) This smacks of agent talk to me. We'll all feel more confident when the Euro lot return IMO.

Everton fans can keep the entire farming community supplied with manure solely using what comes out of their mouths...